Search Warrant Hits Home for GOP

“Believe me,” Congressman Dana Rohrabacher said Saturday morning before the news conference hecalled formally began, “I’d much rather be celebrating Chris Cox’s magnificent victory [in overriding a presidential veto Friday] than be complaining about the Orange County D.A. sending armed men into the home of honest citizens.”

Rohrabacher also lamented the absence of good surfing conditions but then warmed to the task of lathering Dist. Atty. Michael Capizzi up one side and down the other for the 7 a.m. “invasion” Friday at the home of Assemblyman-elect Scott Baugh, a Rohrabacher protege and the subject of an investigation into possible irregularities in his Nov. 28 election victory.

Rohrabacher was joined Saturday by two state Republican Party leaders and a surprise guest--Baugh--who had remained inside his home Friday while others conducted a Capizzi-bashing news conference on his doorstep.

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This may be a good point to interject that what was described variously Saturday as a “dawn raid” or “invasion by seven armed men” was, in fact, the execution of a search warrant requested by Capizzi’s office and authorized by a judge. Capizzi said he sent that many investigators so they could execute the warrant quickly.

Since we all know law-and-order Republicans generally don’t oppose legally obtained search warrants, I wondered why this one upset them so. Besides, conducting a search at 7 a.m. almost seems like a courtesy, considering that I’ve been out on search-warrant missions with cops who showed up at 3 in the morning.

The answer is at least threefold, said state GOP official Michael Schroeder, who, like Rohrabacher, was actively involved in the Allen recall. First, Capizzi is retaliating for criticism he’s taken from Baugh’s friends over the ongoing investigation. Second, Schroeder said, Capizzi is “grandstanding” in an effort to divert attention from his failure to uncover the Orange County bankruptcy. Third, the Baugh camp says he’s cooperated fully with Capizzi so far.

That’s enough grist for three Oliver Stone movies.

“He [Capizzi] doesn’t send seven investigators to invade a crack house, but he sends seven into Scott Baugh’s house,” Schroeder said. “He’s become a rogue D.A.” He then went on to describe Capizzi as a “desperate, cornered man.”

The operative phrase from the Rohrabacher-Baugh camp is that Capizzi is “making a mountain out of a molehill.” At worst, Rohrabacher said, Baugh committed some paperwork mistakes that don’t approach the level of criminality.

“This tactic of sending armed men in at daybreak . . . is the most outrageous act of intimidation I have ever seen in this county,” Rohrabacher said. “If it were done in China, we’d be having official protests for violations of human rights. We call them civil liberties here.”

The man who knows the most about what happened--Baugh--spoke the least. He distributed photos he took during the “invasion” that, had they been captioned, would have read, “Pictures of Some Guys in My House.” Not exactly a Kodak moment. Actually, the photos revealed nothing other than the fact that D.A.’s investigators were in his house.

One man, presumably an investigator, was photographed with a yellow piece of paper held to his face to conceal his identity. It was a mocking gesture, I assumed, but the Rohrabacher-Baugh camp sees nothing funny in any of this.

Baugh, not expecting a search warrant as a stocking stuffer, said he was taking a shower when “all of a sudden, three days before Christmas, my home gets invaded.” He said he began photographing the men because “I wanted to have a record of who was in my home, three days before Christmas.”

Rohrabacher said the investigators “roughed him [Baugh] up” and then lied about it. The district attorney’s office disputes that, but Baugh says two neighborhood witnesses corroborate his version.

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I know, I know. You’re having trouble sifting through the rhetoric and conspiracy theories that suddenly abound. Me too.

The only thing I picked up Saturday is that the conservative wing of the state GOP, never known for subtlety, wants Capizzi to stay out of the Baugh matter.

Why? Do they really consider a 7 a.m. search warrant tantamount to a “dawn raid?” Do they really think Capizzi is investigating Baugh, a virtual unknown three months ago, because he can make political hay from him? More likely, it’s because Baugh would be an automatic vote for the party’s conservative wing in the Assembly, and they don’t want Capizzi gumming up the works.

Perhaps that’s why after blaming Capizzi for blowing the Baugh matter out of proportion, suddenly the other side is associating Capizzi with Gestapo tactics. That’s hardly the way to defuse the matter.

Now, it must be played out. This Republican vs. Republican skirmish has suddenly become a lot more intriguing now that a congressman and the state party are attacking the local district attorney.

I have only a few conclusions at this point: Yes, there’s a smoke screen forming. Yes, someone is trying to divert our attention. Yes, someone may have abused the system.

There’s nothing to do now but wait and see who it is.